


If You Ever Get Tired of Bein' Happy

by coolbyrne



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 21:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21482869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbyrne/pseuds/coolbyrne
Summary: Hollis wonders if maybe she has just one more chance with Gibbs. When she sees him with Jack, she has her answer. Slibbs
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Hollis Mann, Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 32
Kudos: 124





	If You Ever Get Tired of Bein' Happy

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to make Hollis a bitch and I didn't want to make Jack seething with jealousy. These are two grown women who have had their own fair share of experiences, both good and bad, and I didn't want them fighting over a man. I do think in a different life, they COULD be friends; hell, maybe they could be in this one. Imagine them teaming up against Gibbs... But for now, a little heartbreak, because that's life, too.

She had a perfectly good reason to be there, but she wouldn’t deny it gave her a good excuse to pick at the scab she had never let heal. So with that masochistic intent in mind, she left Vance’s office and came around to the top of the stairs. Her thumb self-consciously went to the wedding band she had yet to take off, six months after her husband told her he was tired of hearing her call out the wrong name in the middle of the night, in the middle of the bed. Her other hand went up to her hair, needlessly making sure it was military pristine. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say, despite it being almost 5 long years since she had last seen him. Life seemed to change and yet in so many ways, oddly stay the same.

Like that laugh.

It was a laugh she recognized all too well, even if she hadn’t heard it in years. Hadn’t had the right to hear it. Because it wasn’t his off the cuff laugh in response to a joke. It wasn’t his go-to sarcastic laugh in the face of someone’s obliviousness. No, this was a low laugh, full of humour and heat and secret promises. Giving someone that laugh was like him giving someone his heart. She used to be the recipient of that laugh, of that love; she wondered who the lucky one was now.

She hadn’t seen him when she came in, and he hadn’t seen her, but 5 years did little to change him beyond making his hair whiter and his eyes bluer. From her height, she could still see his smirk and feel the magnetism he brought into every room. He was sitting casually in front of his computer, ready to work at a moment’s notice, but not exactly _at_ that moment, because his attention was on the woman perched on the edge of his desk. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at exactly where his attention lay- blue eyes didn’t bother to hide the trail they ran up the blonde’s legs to her smile. _Still a leg man._ Some things really didn’t change.

The woman laughed at his attention, but in a confident way, like she knew she had a certain power over him and didn’t have to work at getting him to look. Her smile wasn’t coy, her eyes weren’t flirty in a way she had seen so many women behave around him. She touched her wedding band again, knowing that whatever she had hoped for was long out of reach. Pasting a smile on her face, she walked down the rest of the stairs, knowing he’d see her coming.

Sure enough he finally lifted his chin to follow his eyes. “Hollis.” He said her name not dispassionately, but still with a certain distance.

“Jethro.” To hell with it, she thought. Let him squirm under the blonde’s curiosity.

As expected, he hid it well. “What’re you doin’ here?”

“Had to collect on a bet,” she said. “Army over Navy.”

The woman reached over and slapped Gibbs with the back of her hand. “That’s right, Army over Navy.”

She turned to the woman. “Lieutenant Colonel Hollis Mann,” she said, “since Special Agent Gibbs is derelict in his introduction duties.”

“Jacqueline Sloane,” she replied, extending her hand. “Please call me ‘Jack’.”

Returning the handshake, she raised an eyebrow. “_Lieutenant_ Jacqueline Sloane?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Lieutenant Sloane.” Seeing Jack cock her head, she said, “A mission where a team of 4 goes in but only 1 comes out has a tendency to get talked about.” Realizing how it could be misconstrued, she quickly added, “I’m very sorry about your experience. It couldn’t have been easy.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Jack admitted, “but that seems like another lifetime ago.”

She nodded. “I’m glad.” Shifting the topic, she said, “Does explain your joy in the Army/Navy outcome.”

“Here we go,” Gibbs grumbled from his chair. 

Both she and Jack laughed and she thought that, in a different life, they might have been friends. Of course, in a different life, she might be the one on the receiving end of his faux-stern stare that did little to hide his heart. She wondered if he knew how transparent he was; though knowing him as she did (once, another lifetime ago), she wondered if he’d even care.

“That 60 inch TV made it so much easier to see the score, didn’t it, Gibbs?” Jack’s playful question only got another grumble.

“You _finally_ got rid of that brick?” she asked. “Just when you think life doesn’t change.”

“Somethin’ about old dogs and new tricks,” he said, though his eyes never left Jack.

There was such reverence in his voice that she immediately looked at his wedding finger, more than half-expecting to see ring number five. A surreptitious glance at Jack’s revealed it to be bare as well. She wondered what the office pool guesses were on that changing. Because, as she was finding out, life did change.

“Anyway,” she said, suddenly feeling like a third wheel, “I should go. Did what I had to do.” She patted her pocket and left off the bit about not doing what she really wanted to do. That window had been well and truly shut. “Good to meet you, Lieutenant Sloane.” She looked down. “Gibbs.”

He looked at her one last time and she could hardly bear looking into those blue, blue eyes. As quick as decorum and her feet would allow, she walked away, leaving him behind.

…..

Jack waited until the elevator was closed before twitching her mouth at Gibbs. “So, Army women, huh?” 

He pretended something on his computer caught his attention. “What?”

His attempt at confusion was weak and she let him know it. “For all the undying loyalty you give your beloved Marine Corps, you sure do have a secret crush on the Army.” He tried to dismiss her teasing by ignoring it, but she was on a roll. “You called her ‘Hollis’ and she called you ‘Jethro’. And she knew about your ancient TV.” Seeing him struggle at being caught out so easily, but being proud that she had caught it so quickly, she leaned close and whispered in his ear. “Just means you have great taste in women.” She sat up and hopped off the desk, giving him another look at her calves while she slipped her heels back on. “And we clearly have great taste in men. A point I’ll be sure to bring up when I call her.”

His head whipped up. “Call her?”

“Sure,” Jack said nonchalantly. “We’ve got a lot in common. Army life and Marine men. And, you know, probably shoes or something.” While his mind was reeling at the idea, she quickly glanced around the quiet office and dropped a kiss on his lips. “And don’t think I won’t be doing some collecting of my own later on that Army/Navy game.” His eyes went from slight discomfort to blue-white heat and she couldn’t resist kissing him again, this time with the intent that matched his eyes. “Don’t forget to pick up milk on the way home,” she said, walking away and leaving him wondering what the hell had just happened.

…..

-end


End file.
